Amazon ECR vs Azure Container Registry comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft are both solutions in the Container Registry category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.5, while Microsoft is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.7. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 18.1% mindshare in CR, compared to Microsoft’s 11.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Amazon ECR

Read 21 Amazon ECR reviews

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3,886 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Azure Container Registry

Read 21 Azure Container Registry reviews

2,581 Views
2,581 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Amazon ECR

Azure Container Registry

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

Azure Container Registry and Amazon ECR are both key players in the container management category. Amazon ECR seems to have an upper hand due to its ease of use and cost-effectiveness, despite Azure's advanced features and security enhancements.

Features: Azure Container Registry provides geo-replication, role-based access for enhanced security, and seamless integration with Azure services. It also allows for comprehensive visibility into Docker images and logs. Amazon ECR offers ease of use, integration with AWS services, centralized management, image scanning capabilities, and support for multi-region tasks with a strong focus on security and scalability.

Room for Improvement: Azure Container Registry users have reported accessibility issues, unexpected downtime, and a need for robust auto-scanning capabilities. Improvements in access key management and image stability are also desired. Amazon ECR could improve integration with other cloud services and provide better documentation for newcomers. Enhancements in IAM management and real-time alerting, as well as deeper integration with security tools, are noted areas for improvement.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Azure Container Registry generally provides reliable service on public and private clouds, but with occasional support inconsistencies. Microsoft’s support structure is comprehensive, yet outsourced support gets mixed reviews. Amazon ECR, while also versatile in deployment, is more praised for robust AWS support and proactive service, leading to a slightly better customer service impression.

Pricing and ROI: Azure Container Registry is reasonably priced with a tiered licensing model, but can be seen as expensive compared to on-premise solutions. Amazon ECR is often more cost-effective, utilizing a pay-as-you-go model with low per-storage costs, resulting in strong ROI from operational efficiencies. Azure’s cost is justified by its features and integration advantages, but Amazon’s competitive pricing makes it attractive.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon ECR vs. Azure Container Registry Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon ECR vs. Azure Container Registry

June 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Amazon ECR

Ranking in Container Registry

2nd

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Azure Container Registry

Ranking in Container Registry

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Container Registry category, the mindshare of Amazon ECR is 18.1%, up from 16.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Azure Container Registry is 11.4%, up from 10.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Container Registry

Featured Reviews

Rikin Parekh

Backend Engineer at Northeastern University

Helps to store Docker containers and images but deployment can be complex

If there were a way to use containers as tasks directly, that would simplify things. Currently, when we use EC2 instances, scaling horizontally means increasing the instance count by five times, which might not be cost-effective. Maybe using containers directly for tasks could be a better option. Setting up this product initially does take quite a bit of time, and maintaining it also requires effort. Doing it via command line would be challenging, so I find it easier to manage through the interface.

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Chris Badenhorst

Strategic Head | Azure Services and GRC at Braintree

Offers horizontal scaling and auto-scaling capabilities

We are a Microsoft partner with solutions designations and specializations in Azure. We have about one thousand customers running on Azure, to whom we provide managed services through our local Microsoft arrangement in EMEA. We do have extensive experience in Azure networking, infrastructure platforms, and data analytics. We have three teams covering application and data analytics, storage configuration, networking, public endpoints, and the like. We manage Service Fabric for two customers. We have more experience with Service Fabric than pure containers on AKS or IPS.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"One feature of Amazon ECR that I find particularly useful is its web interface, which makes management easy. The ability to manage and support token image updates is crucial for us. Moreover, utilizing load balancers via AWS features allows us to manage all traffic."

"The most valuable feature of Amazon ECR is how it organizes the code and the infrastructure."

"The ECR solution is good. It is integrated with AWS, and it's free. Everything is free, which makes it nice to use."

"The integration with AWS services is very easy, and the deployment and initial setup are pretty straightforward."

"The solution is very stable."

"The Docker compatibility that ECR offers is probably the most beneficial aspect of the solution."

"The autoscaling functionality is the main beneficial feature of Amazon ECR. It simplifies management, but some configurations can complicate things a bit."

"The technical support services are excellent."

More Amazon ECR pros

"Provides secure duplication and the option for service webhooks."

"It's great for storing images on containers."

"The portability and elasticity features are the most valuable."

"Azure Container Registry can be used to detect vulnerabilities in your image."

"Pricing is reasonable."

"We like the fact that this is a secure solution, that employs a token-based system, which can be used to manage all the applications under this product."

"What I like best about Azure Container Registry is that it's fast. It also has 24 x 7 reliability. I didn't face any downtime issues using Azure Container Registry. I also like how secure the solution is, especially as it's from Microsoft."

"Azure Container Registry is an easy-to-install, easy-to-configure, and easy-to-deploy solution."

More Azure Container Registry pros

Cons

"Amazon ECR needs to improve its downtime."

"Its support for system architecture needs improvement."

"Improving the documentation for easy understanding will help bring in more clients to use Amazon ECR."

"If there were a way to use containers as tasks directly, that would simplify things. Currently, when we use EC2 instances, scaling horizontally means increasing the instance count by five times, which might not be cost-effective. Maybe using containers directly for tasks could be a better option."

"Providing more ways to scan the image integrated with ECR would enhance security in the software development life cycle."

"I suggest making it more aligned with the Docker registry version two API specification."

"One area for improvement in Amazon ECR is its complexity. It's pretty complex for newbies, particularly learning about private repositories, including how to access Amazon ECR through AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)."

"There is no room for improvement mentioned; it's good as is."

More Amazon ECR cons

"The security, dashboards, and monitoring system could be improved."

"The deployment is an area that needs improvement, as it can take some time to deploy."

"The solution has no areas that need improvement."

"The solution has become more popular in the last few years but I find that the technical support has not increased their knowledge base, so more knowledgeable support staff can help improve the solution."

"Implementation needs improvement. We have a lot of open, online sources. Doing a deployment is easy for us. The only issue is when we have VPN connections and we try to pull the images from Container images to the local Dockers, it slows down."

"The accessibility of Azure Container Registry also has room for improvement because the solution is not always accessible 24 x 7. I experienced this three times when the service wasn't responding, so I could not push or pull images, and I had to decommission Azure Container Registry and redeploy it."

"We have not explored geo-replication features."

"Lacks the option of having access keys stored in a master key vault."

More Azure Container Registry cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive."

"The main difference between Amazon ECR and other solutions, like Google Kubernetes Engine, is that I haven't personally used GKE. However, I know that GKE costs around $60 per month, which is quite cost-effective."

"My company currently has Amazon ECR under the pay-as-you-go model. The tool is more affordable than Azure Container Registry, and it's worth the money."

"The solution's price is reasonable compared to its competitors"

"Amazon ECR does not have a high cost."

"The solution's prices are high in India as compared to the US."

"I have no information on how much Azure Container Registry costs. I know it's the only solution my institution can use, so the cost was approved."

"Azure Container Registry, has no cost, but you pay for storage service."

"The Premium version includes some enhancements but is still quite okay with regard to pricing."

"I would rate the pricing four out of ten."

"Azure is a bit expensive."

"When using Azure Container Registry, it was $1.5 or $1.6 per day, but I'm unsure how much it costs today."

"The product is competitively priced."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Insurance Company

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon ECR?

One feature of Amazon ECR that I find particularly useful is its web interface, which makes management easy. The ability to manage and support token image updates is crucial for us. Moreover, utili...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon ECR?

I haven't observed the costs associated with Amazon ECR services in detail.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Amazon ECR?

I would appreciate a feature in Amazon ECR that allows direct image downloads from open source into ECR, bypassing the current need to first pull the image to my server. This would streamline the p...

See all answers

What do you like most about Azure Container Registry?

Azure Container Registry is an easy-to-install, easy-to-configure, and easy-to-deploy solution.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Container Registry?

The pricing is on the lower side and not costly. Customers usually pay approximately $500 USD monthly, though this includes multiple services, not just the Azure Container Registry.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Azure Container Registry?

While downtime is uncommon, there are occasional server errors like '404 not found' and '504 server not found'. Viewing server logs is not a reliable approach, and improving log visibility would he...

See all answers

Comparisons

JFrog Container Registry vs Amazon ECR

Compared 41% of the time

Harbor vs Amazon ECR

Compared 14% of the time

DigitalOcean Container Registry vs Amazon ECR

Compared 3% of the time

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) vs Amazon ECR

Compared 3% of the time

Red Hat Quay vs Amazon ECR

Compared 3% of the time

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JFrog Container Registry vs Azure Container Registry

Compared 31% of the time

Harbor vs Azure Container Registry

Compared 17% of the time

Red Hat Quay vs Azure Container Registry

Compared 2% of the time

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) vs Azure Container Registry

Compared 1% of the time

More Azure Container Registry Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Container Registry

June 2025

Download Amazon ECR product report

Buyer's Guide

Azure Container Registry

July 2025

Download Azure Container Registry product report

Also Known As

Amazon Elastic Container Registry

Microsoft Azure Container Registry

Overview

Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR) is a fully-managed Docker container registry that makes it easy for developers to store, manage, and deploy Docker container images. Amazon ECR is integrated with Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS), simplifying your development to production workflow.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Azure Container Registry allows you to build, store, and manage container images and artifacts in a private registry for all types of container deployments. Use Azure container registries with your existing container development and deployment pipelines. Use Azure Container Registry Tasks to build container images in Azure on-demand, or automate builds triggered by source code updates, updates to a container's base image, or timers.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers

DNV GL, Alaska Airlines, Finastra

Buyer's Guide

Amazon ECR vs. Azure Container Registry

June 2025

Free Report: Amazon ECR vs. Azure Container Registry

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